Tic-tac-toe, anyone?
by AToneic
Summary: The teacher casually crossed from her desk to the whiteboard presumably to write something important. MS ABADEER "Here's the text books we'll be referring to throughout the year," She flicks her silky hair before walking to Bonnibel, oh my glob. "Pass them 'round."
1. Mr Cowling?

Lined up against the wall of a demountable building is not how she envisioned her first moments of year eleven. As far as Bonnibel is concerned, Monday mornings can suck her test tube, and so can this subject.

"You are the only thing that makes this music class worth my time."

"Don't be like that Bonnie." Lady says in disdain, tilting her head to the side with a long frown that begs for a cheerful joke. But Bonnibel doesn't have one. The other girl punches her lightly in the arm, which is enough to wake Bonnibel from her thoughts, or re-introduce her to the nightmare that is her next hour.

"We can play extended tic-tac-toe during class, if you want." Her face splits into this hopeful grin, complete with a single thumbs up next to her wide teeth. Bonnie believes the gesture reassures her friend more than herself, but she reciprocates anyways, it is Lady after all. She's pulled towards the door, but doesn't complain, head down until she's forced to take a seat. It's right next to the desk, with a close-up, non-glary view of the board so doesn't need her glasses after all, which she thinks is amazing on Lady's part. Bonnibel sets out her binder, idly writing date on her page before musing about her new surroundings.

Inside the classroom feels no different from waiting outside. None of her other classmates (besides Lady) have even taken and she'd felt the urge to energy nap intensify. Bonnibel concluded that the only way she would ever stand a chance against the disease dubbed "Music Class Sleepy Times" would be to play the promised game of tic-tac-toe (where the boxes were eighty-one by eighty-one to spice up the possible K.O moves). Being so invested in her game with Lady, Bonnibel didn't even realise that the extremely young _female_ teacher had in fact called out her name, let alone walked into the classroom. _That's not Mr Cowling_ , Bonnibel assumed, unless there was a typo on her timetable, which was highly unlikely.

"Here." She'd responded after a second calling, a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks. At least it was only a substitute - which was quite lousy on the first day, she had to admit - bad impressions are impossible to fix. From that point on, she agreed with her Lady that maybe this wasn't the best way to pass the time. But it definitely wasn't the fastest. Meanwhile, Bonnibel debating why they wouldn't have just cancelled the class if their teacher wasn't present.

After all the names on the roll had been called, the substitute stood from her desk – probably to assign some work and give out the student expectations from the absent teacher.

"Good morning all. You'll find that I'm not the usual senior music teacher. I'm taking his place for the senior classes for the whole year. I'm currently an undergraduate teacher, and I remember I hated those rules teachers would give you at the start of each year. You either complete the set work during class or talk and fail exams, that's up to you to decide."

The teacher casually crossed from her desk to the whiteboard presumably to write something important.

MS ABADEER

"Here's the text books we'll be referring to throughout the year," She flicks her silky hair before walking to Bonnibel, _oh my glob_. "Pass them 'round."


	2. Saved by the bell

p class="MsoNormal"In response, Bonnie smiled and nodded back at her for the most part. She debated on actually speaking, but found it was difficult enough to get any cognitive function working when even looking up at her teacher's her face. emOnly her face/em. She made sure of that./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Bonnibel gestured for Ms to place the text books in her hands, but instead she wound up watching her drop the pile quite dramatically on her table, before a small whisper of "They're heavy". Which completely fine anyways, especially because of the brief smile sent her way afterwards./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The tittle em'Music and Me, Volume 5 – Grade 11 Curriculum' /emlead Bonnie to believe that there were five other books of the same brand name at least, which she thought was completely preposterous. emSince when did music require a textual reference? /emIts thickness was comparable to that of her chemistry text book, but with a quick flick through confirmed that this was due to its increased font size - which was a relief. Her lack of passion for the subject couldn't ever be as apparent to herself as it was now./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She slid the pile of emridiculously heavy/em books to the left, where Lady sat, after grabbing her own copy. Bonnie couldn't help but sceptically review the first pages of the book. emThis was gonna be a long year, indeed/em./p  
p class="MsoNormal"-/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em'How much slower can 3 minutes be? When will the school bell end this dreadful hell?' /emThe pink-haired girl wrote on Lady's open exercise book. Thoughtfully, it was in pencil. She turned back to the whiteboard, where Ms Abadeer was writing some diagrams explaining pentatonic scale. The words she was saying could barely be digested by Bonnie's mind, still pre-occupied with the realisation of how much she truly resented every aspect of this class. Well, with one exception, she thought automatically. How embarrassing. No one could've have known putting music as her second option would have ever amounted to this. A jab in her side sent her to fall out of the never-ending spiral of hopeless self-reflection, instinctively whirling around to the perpetrator./p  
p class="MsoNormal"'emThis is getting old real fast, Bonnibel," /emThe 'i' in her name was dotted with a cute love heart and she couldn't help but smile. 'emI know you'd rather be doing geography, but look on the bright side! Music theory is bonkers easy and it's 60% of the course, so just relax a bit." /emAnd as if sincerity weren't already laced enough within her written note, Lady worded "Please?" once she glanced up./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Suddenly the bell rang, and the 'fine' that was to be said in reply became a mere, insignificant thought in the back of her mind. Instead, her eyes were instantly magnetised to the door./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Enjoy the rest of your day! It was great meeting emmost/em of you." The teacher joked, and Lady sighed as Bonnie laughed – emthere was no shame in enjoying dry humour/em. The door opened and Bonnie felt reunited with her long lost sense of freedom but it seemed that her deprivation had not come to an end yet. "Wait, you two stay." emWho was she talking to?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Halted in her tracks, Bonnibel gazed back to find that Lady was still inside the classroom, and how Ms Abadeer had just confiscated her notebook. After an abrasive change in her demeanour, both of them could only hope for the worst. "Am I correct in assuming the prissy hand writing is yours?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""No, t-that's Bonnibel's." And subsequently the teacher's accusatory eye shifted. She was unmoving, unblinking and seemed not breath to breathe. Frightening and domineering couldn't begin to sum up her new perception of Ms Abadeer. It sent chills down her back./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Okay. Continue to class, I need to speak with your friend." Lady murmured a small sorry to her before walking by her at the door, but it was so silent that Ms probably heard it anyways./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You don't respect this subject?" It sounded more like a statement, but she answered regardless./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I've played piano for nine years." Disturbingly, emdon't look below the neckline/em had become a newly repeated mantra as Bonnie struggled find somewhere else to look except her intense and direct glare. If not to make the situation worse, she stepped closer, emphasising what she had previously predicted was a small height difference. The notion of intimidation has never been better defined until now./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I presume that actually translates to 'Obviously, Ms Abadeer'. But that's seems extremely contrary to what you wrote."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry. Music wasn't my first choice and I shouldn't be treating it like it was my last. I apologise for my impolite behaviour." Bonnie's never talked faster./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hmmk." She hummed, emconsiderately? "/emThat's cool, I was forced to do economics, I catch your drift. I just hope I don't find any comments alike these with your handwriting in the future."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She found herself rigid, unable to do anything. Her line of sight fixated to where her teacher stood, and every part of her felt paralysed. Yet, sweating profusely probably best described her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, smile. It's a nice look on you." She walked past her with a sly grin, almost brushing her shoulder. Pink tainted her cheeks at the remark. emAm I blushing?/em/p 


End file.
